That morning we had breakfast with the family and then made our way back to Hohhot. It was overcast and rained off and on. That afternoon, I am heading to Dā Lā Tè Qí, which has the seventh largest desert on China, to have fun in the sand.
We got close to Hohhot and dropped off two of the girls and picked up three others to join us on the desert tour. I was worried about going out to the desert because it was raining the whole way back to town and I don't want to go out to the desert and have it rain the whole time. We stopped in the town of Dā Lā Tè Qí to grab some lunch. Inner Mongolia is different from the rest of China that I have been to in that English is almost non-existent. When we arrived to the restaurant and got out of the van it was like a UFO landing on earth; all these locals surrounded us in awe and had their phones out taking pictures. When we sat down for lunch, the people sitting around us were even taking pictures of us. The restaurant was having some sort of promotion and they have big speakers outside playing very loud music and blasting off fireworks. It was loud to the point where I couldn't talk to the person next to me, let alone hear myself think! Eventually, they ran out of fireworks and the music stopped.. We ate in peace.
When we made it out to the desert, it was like magic, the sky turned from grey and gloomy to bright blue with few clouds. The area was a big tourist trap. We entered the desert through some checkpoint area that had a big outdoor shed and an amphitheatre type thing. I imagine that this is used to address loads of tourists?
We got close to Hohhot and dropped off two of the girls and picked up three others to join us on the desert tour. I was worried about going out to the desert because it was raining the whole way back to town and I don't want to go out to the desert and have it rain the whole time. We stopped in the town of Dā Lā Tè Qí to grab some lunch. Inner Mongolia is different from the rest of China that I have been to in that English is almost non-existent. When we arrived to the restaurant and got out of the van it was like a UFO landing on earth; all these locals surrounded us in awe and had their phones out taking pictures. When we sat down for lunch, the people sitting around us were even taking pictures of us. The restaurant was having some sort of promotion and they have big speakers outside playing very loud music and blasting off fireworks. It was loud to the point where I couldn't talk to the person next to me, let alone hear myself think! Eventually, they ran out of fireworks and the music stopped.. We ate in peace.
When we made it out to the desert, it was like magic, the sky turned from grey and gloomy to bright blue with few clouds. The area was a big tourist trap. We entered the desert through some checkpoint area that had a big outdoor shed and an amphitheatre type thing. I imagine that this is used to address loads of tourists?
Luckily, there was no one else there; we hopped in a jeep and headed off in the desert. We arrived in another tourist spot. There was a gate that we had to walk through to get to our camels.
The camel ride was pretty cool, different camels from what I have been on. They had a thick coat that was just starting to shed, the coat was similar to that of a sheep, just not quite as thick (nor white).
After we got done cruising through the desert, we headed up to the top of a big sand dune and slide down it in these makeshift sleds. When I purchased this tour, the brochure said sandboarding, which to my understanding is going down a sand dune on a snowboard, that is even what the lady told me that sold me the tour; however, that is not the case. I was pretty upset. True sandboarding is one thing that I have wanted to do while traveling that I have yet to do. A good cheap sandboarding trip can be hard to come by. While it wasn't what I was expecting, it was still fun!
Once we finished up on the dune, there wasn't much else to do. One of the guys brought a volley ball, so we attempted to play ball in the sand. It was rather hard to play in the dunes; if you missed or hit it too hard, the ball was gone.
Before we left, we went out to find wild coyotes. When we were in the back of the truck, I jokingly said, we are probably going to come around the bend and see pens with coyotes in them. Sure enough, there were coyotes in pens. It was probably the worst sight I have seen since I have been traveling. The coyotes were absolutely scared of us, and the Chinese men were bashing the cages with big sticks trying to get them out of their 'homes.' I didn't even want to take a picture, but I wanted others to be able to see this.
Later that afternoon, we headed back to Hohhot. Needles to say, I was exhausted. Once I got back to the hostel, I grabbed some food and went to bed.
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